CRESTFALLEN Callum McGregor insists Celtic have no time to dwell on the shattering Champions League exit in Kazakhstan last night.
The captain was part of the team that failed to score even once against Kairat Almaty over 210 minutes of game time and then squander THREE penalty-kicks to stumble out of Europe’s elite competition.
McGregor and Alistair Johnston were the spot-kick culprits when the Hoops blew the chance of their sixth treble in nine years in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden in May.
On this latest disappointment, it was Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda who fluffed their efforts from 12 yards, three attempts that were far too close to the keeper to give him a problem.
UNDER SIEGE…Callum McGregor and his team-mates line up to deflect Jorginho’s free-kick.
The hope of playing at the top flight was dynamited by a team rated 311th in the UEFA rankings, but there will be no blame game among the players. Now the focus has to switch immediately to the Glasgow derby at Ibrox on Sunday.
McGregor said: “Everyone is really disappointed. It’s not the result and the outcome we wanted.
“The game went right the way to penalties and it can be a lottery. We were pushing late on to get the goal. We had a couple of big chances, but it never quite fell for us.
“Over the two legs, you have to give credit to them, as well. They defended with everything. It was a scrappy game, a game of moments. We have to shake this off. There’s another massive game at the weekend.
“Of course, we want to be in the Champions League, but we have to get over this disappointment really, really quickly.
DOWN AND OUT…Daizen Maeda hits the ground after his late miss.
“We know externally what the noise will be and we have to stick together. We can still go on and have a big season, but we also need to learn from this.
“You have to try to make home advantage count in these ties. They made it stuffy and defended really well, but I thought we managed the game pretty well.
“We had the better moments and on another night we go through
“But we have to suck it up and get over the disappointment.”
McGregor, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “We have to bounce back quickly. We are so disappointed. We really wanted Champions League football.
“It shows you that, on any given night, if you don’t quite carry the luck, you won’t go through. We’ve had three good years in the Champions League and grown so much as a team.
“We now have to park that. The domestic stuff becomes so important and we also drop into the Europa League.
FALL GUY…Kasper Schmeichel reflects after Kairat’s deciding penalty-kick.
“We can still have a good season.’
The Hoops midfielder added: “The experienced players now have a role to play in terms of picking up the players for the weekend. It’s another huge game.
“We all have to take responsibility. At Celtic, we never pass the blame or put it on any individual. It’s everyone, it’s a collective.
“We have to look at the game and see where we can be better.
“But over the two legs we probably didn’t do enough to go and hurt them. We have to accept the outcome.
“We’ll get better as the season goes on, but we have to get over this disappointment.”
